Facebook Blocks Page Admins from Posting Legit Links

I’ve blogged before about why Facebook will never replace your website, but in case you’re still thinking I’m full of it and using Facebook as your corporate website is a good idea, allow me to share yet another reason giving a third party control over what/how you post online is a bad idea.

This afternoon I went to post something on the Facebook Page I manage. It was a link to a totally legit mainstream news piece about a kid with selective mutism and how he communicates using music. Actually, I don’t have to bother describing it to you–here’s the link. Nothing shady about the story or the site, just a nice video about a kid who uses a guitar when he can’t use his voice.

Well, Big Brother Facebook apparently didn’t like it, because when I tried to post a the link, this is what I got:

Huh?

I clicked “let us know” and stated that the post was NOT spam, and of course got the “we’ll look into it” response. So there went that post–I tried again several times and each time got the same message.

The worst part? I tried to post the link in a private group on Facebook, just to see if it would work…and it posted! So much for it being flagged as spam–why does Facebook let me post it in a group but not on the page I admin or my own profile?

So what’s to keep someone from flagging your company’s website or sites you want to share on your company’s Facebook Page, therefore preventing you from directing Facebook fans to those links? What’s their process for determining what’s spam and what’s not? How many people have to report something as spam before they block it? How long does it take to get a site unblocked once it’s blocked?

Maybe you’re ok with having this little control over what you share on a page that’s ostensibly controlled by your company, but I hate the fact that I was unable to share a totally legitimate news item that I know the Page’s fans would have appreciated because Facebook decided it was spam.